HZL to assist mid-day meal in Rajasthan

Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), India's largest zinc producer, today announced its partnership with the Rajasthan government and the Naandi Foundation in a first-of-its-kind mid-day meal programme initiative, which will benefit over 200,000 primary school-going children of government, government-aided and the EGS centres in the Chittorgarh district in Rajasthan.

A tri-partite memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed recently by Jeyakumar Janakaraj, senior vice-president, Chanderiya Lead Zinc Smelter, HZL, Manoj Kumar, CEO, Naandi Foundation; and P L Agarwal, district collector, Chittorgarh, representative of Rajasthan government for setting up four hi-tech centralised kitchens using state-of-the-art technology in Gangrar, Chittorgarh, Kapasan and Nimbaheda in the first phase of the mid-day meal programme initiative.

Janakraj today gave a cheque of Rs 2.10 crore to the Naandi Foundation for the construction of remaining three kitchens.

In this first ever public private partnership, HZL is investing over Rs 3.18 crore in setting up a total of four hi-tech kitchens in and around Chittorgarh where each centralised kitchen will cater close to 25,000 primary school going children from the nearby villages.

A part of Vedanta Resources Plc, HZL has already paid over Rs 65 lakh for the construction of centralised kitchen at Gangrar, which is ready for inauguration. The remaining three kitchens that are planned in the first phase will be built with an investment of Rs 2.40 crore of which the company has already donated Rs 30 lakh.

The company donated Rs 13 lakh for water and electricity connection at these kitchens. Upon signing the MoU, Jeyakumar Janakraj said, "HZL has always been at the forefront of community initiatives; especially in the field of child development and nutrition. The mid-day meal programme is yet another initiative aimed at providing nutrition values to young children in order to improve school enrolment and learning in the long run."

Manoj Kumar said, "We are happy to partner with HZL, a generous corporate that understands the need of the hour and is committed to the cause of the community. We are confident that alongwith HZL's support, the mid-day meal programme in Rajasthan will be a success."

District Collector P L Agarwal said, "This is truly a pioneering initiative by Hindustan Zinc which will go a long way in supplementing the state government's efforts towards improving the health and literacy rates in Rajasthan. We wish that like HZL, other corporates also understand their responsibility to the community and extend support to us."

"HZL has always played a key role in the upliftment of the social sector for many years and this association is yet another commitment of the company towards societal and infrastructure development in the rural areas, women empowerment, education, medical, health and natural resources development", Janakraj said.

HZL is India's only integrated producer of Zinc and also among the worlds leading integrated producers, with domestic market share of over 70 per cent. Its Zinc capacity is currently 400,000 tpa with smelting operations situated at Chanderiya, Debari and Visakhapatnam.

HZL has Zinc mines in Rajpura, Dariba, Rampura, Agucha and Zawar. HZL recently commissioned a 50,000 tpa Ausmelt Lead Plant and increased its capacity to 85,000 tpa.

The company is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc, a London Stock Exchange listed, FTSE 100 global metals and mining company with major interests in aluminium, zinc, copper, silver and lead, having operations in India, Australia and Zambia.